Today, I'm happy to announce the release of a new song - the first one in ~2 years!

In a nut shell, this piece is very special for several reasons. First of all, it's more of an experiment than anything else and, as such, is probably different from most pieces I've recorded.

In this track, I decided to hire a few session musicians and see how it turns out. In essence, that means that all instruments, tracks, and sounds are 100% live - which is a very exciting idea for me. In particular, I was able to hire an EXCELLENT orchestral violinist who transformed my usual synth strings into live, layered violins. In the end, I was very happy with the end product and will be looking to hire these musicians again for future projects.

Since this was an experiment, this track is a little on the short side, but I wanted to see how the end product turned out before investing in this approach.

SONG DESCRIPTION:

As is evident in the title of this new track ("Anti-Fragile"), the song is intended to be a tribute to the book "Anti-Fragile: Things that Gain from Disorder" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

In that book (which I'd HIGHLY recommend), the author dissects systems throughout the world and shows how disorder/chaos/randomness - as opposed to structure and security - fuel growth/prosperity.

For example, as evolution shows, humanity may have had some set-backs, but that backtracking was necessary to transcend beyond our former existence. Pain/stress is like information that communicates inadequacy and compels the body to eradicate weakness. Without that information, there is no focus on areas that need improvement (think of lifting weights; without tissue damage, there is no progress).

In this track, I tried to capture that idea. I wanted the listener to feel that a tough situation is nothing more than a sign of growth and immeasurable power. At the surface level, pain/depression/etc may be debilitating and hard to handle, but, if you dig a bit deeper, you'll find that it's the root of all power and accomplishments.

As such, the piece has a melancholic undertone, but there is a slight, hidden power beneath the message. It's slow and gentle but packs a potent punch at the same time (I wanted the drums to really capture that expansive power). When you listen to the piece, I hope you feel that, whatever is going on in your life, it will eventually pass, and whatever takes its place will exhibit power beyond your wildest imaginations. I want it to make you feel "anti-fragile" and motivated to keep doing what you're doing.

Anyway, that's the main premise driving this piece, and I hope you all enjoy it :). It's been an enjoyable experiment to work on, and a lot of doors have just opened up now that hiring session musicians is a feasible option.